Key Points
- The Met has announced a new Community Protection Team of initially 100 officers dedicated to protecting Jewish communities across London.
- The team combines neighbourhood policing, specialist protection, and counter-terrorism capabilities to provide a more visible, intelligence-led, and coordinated presence.
- The Government is backing the initiative with £18 million in funding, with a further £4 million available through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant for community-led work.
- Antisemitic hate crime recorded by the Met hit 140 offences in April 2026.
- Over 80 people have been arrested in connection with antisemitic hate crimes and arson attacks across North London in the past four weeks. Eight individuals have been charged.
- A 35-year-old man was arrested on Saturday, 2 May, after rocks were thrown at a Hatzola ambulance while it was transporting a patient in Edgware.
- A 57-year-old man was arrested on Friday, 1 May, on suspicion of causing fear or provocation of violence after threatening a Jewish man using racially offensive language.
- The national terrorism threat level remains at its second-highest level following the Golders Green stabbing on 29 April.
The Metropolitan Police has announced the creation of a dedicated Community Protection Team of 100 officers to protect Jewish communities across London, as antisemitic hate crime in the capital reaches its highest monthly level in two years. The announcement came as police confirmed another suspected arson attack on a synagogue this week and revealed further arrests over the weekend for racially and religiously aggravated offences.
The announcement marks a significant escalation in the Met’s response to what Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has called a “pandemic” of antisemitism in the capital. The new team will be primarily focused on North and North West London, where the overwhelming majority of recent incidents have taken place.
Rowley acknowledged that the 100-strong team falls short of the 300 officers he told ministers were required, but described it as the beginning of a new, sustainable model rather than a short-term surge.
“It brings together experienced local officers who know their communities, supported by specialist capabilities, to provide more visible, consistent and intelligence-led protection,”
he said.
“A settled, long-term model built around local teams will be far more effective than repeated emergency responses.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan welcomed the announcement.
“The new team will combine Met neighbourhood policing officers—who know their communities best—with dedicated specialist Met protection teams working around the clock to reassure and protect London’s Jewish communities,”
he said. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood backed the initiative with the £18 million government funding.
“We will do everything in our power to rid society of the evil of antisemitism,”
she said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also stated directly that a foreign state may be behind some of the attacks.
“One of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents,”
he said, with his message directed explicitly at Iran. Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has issued new guidance to fast-track antisemitic hate crime prosecutions through the courts, describing what he believes is “a pattern of copycat antisemitism” that must be stopped.
For North London‘s Jewish community, which has endured weeks of fear, disruption, and violence, the announcement offers some reassurance. But with the threat level still elevated and arrests continuing, the situation remains far from resolved.
